Run For Cover
by Giola
Summary: Two years out of Hogwarts, Rose Weasley thinks she's finally getting somewhere.   That is, until a blonde-haired prat appears, someone puts down a chunk of money in return for 3 powerful objects, and a life-or-death race begins.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yes, this story used to be called Outcasts...but I had a stroke of inspiration and decided to repost it, retitled it and resummarise it. :D. **

**Oh, and I'm writing more chapters, to answer those of you who asked me if Outcasts was complete. **

The wind whipped through my hair, making it even more wild than usual. The ground loomed closer, a green blur speeding towards me, but I didn't slow down.

I never did.

I pulled out of the dive at the last moment, levelling out just above the grass, a grin plastered to my face. I quickly gathered speed and height again, going for dive number two.

I circled the hoops, my gaze hovering over the forest. I gradually made my way to the centre of the pitch, dipping lower and lower, gathering speed.

My broom responded at the slightest touch, and I gently guided it in a circle so that I spun lower and lower, the green blur once again approaching.

"WEASLEY!"

I started, my broom coming to a screeching halt halfway through my dive. I lurched forward, over my broom, my body flinging over the stick. The sudden stop of my broom hadn't affected my body, which, unfortunately, kept going forward.

I hung on by one hand, the green grass now looking more threatening as I dangled above it.

I turned my head slowly, looking for the source of my predicament.

"Malfoy?" I squinted through the setting sunlight, a silhoutte on the skyline, on his own broom, fast approaching.

"You idiot." He said bluntly, coming to a stop next to me, both of us now hovering in the air. I quickly swung myself back up onto my broom (something I'd had to practice thousands of times in practices, which I now thanked Merlin for), turning to glare at my everlasting source of hatred, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

"What the hell, Malfoy? You don't just _call_ out to me when I'm in the MIDDLE of a dive, you could've killed me!" I screamed, the wind picking up again and swirling my hair around my face.

"But you're fine." He smirked at me, before launching into his own dive, nearly, but not quite, as spectacular as mine, and landing smartly on the ground.

I followed, swooping down just over his head, though, to his credit, he didn't duck.

I jumped off my broom, stalking off to the changerooms, steadfastly ignoring Malfoy.

"Oh, Weasley!" He called after me, but I refused to turn around.

"Weaslette!" He called again, in a singsong voice.

He was following me, the prat. He'd probably follow me all the way into the female changerooms, I wouldn't put it past him.

"How come you still come here to fly? Can't let school go, can you?" He taunted, a few paces behind me.

"You're pathetic, Weasley. You can't help but come here and relive your glory days-"

I whirled around, my eyes flashing.

"What are _you_ doing here, then, Malfoy?" I retaliated, fed up with his taunts.

He looked at me.

"Practicing. I, unlike you, still _play_ Quidditch, and have some sort of a reason for being here. I'm not pathetic, like you, Weaslette." He said, his smirk back.

I sighed.

"You know nothing about me anymore, Malfoy." I said shortly, turning and pushing the changeroom door open, letting it thud behind me, a barrier between my anger and my oldest enemy.

Scorpius Malfoy and I had spent seven years hating eachother, taunting eachother, constantly trying to best the other in classes, Quidditch, popularity...everything.

Our natural competitive natures were not helped by our families past, and the mutual rivalry that still lay there. Whilst old differences had, for the most part, been laid aside, the Weasley-Malfoy feud was most definitely reawakened by Malfoy and myself.

Scorpius was the pure-blood prince from a family of Slytherins, sorted into Gryffindor. I was the Weasley girl, daughter of two war heroes, from a long line of Gryffindors, sorted into Slytherin.

To say we were a shock to our respective families would be an understatement.

_"Malfoy, Scorpius!"_

_A small, blonde haired boy I vaguely recognized from the platform swaggered up to the chair, confidence oozing from his pores. His smug grin, what would become his trademark expression, appeared on his face as he pulled the hat over his head. _

_Several minutes past, and most of the student body held their breath. Every Malfoy had been sorted into Slytherin instantly, his father had sat on that stool for less than ten seconds. _

_What was so different about Scorpius?_

_"GRYFFINDOR!" The hat shouted, and no one moved. _

_Scorpius Malfoy sat frozen on the stool, the Slytherin table was a mixture of shocked looks, disgusted gazes and a few angry relatives. The Gryffindor table didn't know how to react. Gryffindor's were brave, chivalrous, the house of Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, and many other greats. Scorpius Malfoy did _not_ belong there, at least in the minds of many Hogwarts students that day. _

_My cousins, James and Fred, slowly started clapping. Eventually, Scorpius moved and sat with his new housemates, and a smattering of applause broke out. My other cousin, Albus, soon joined him at the table, and I saw them start making conversation, albiet an awkward one. _

_"Weasley, Rose!" McGonagall called, and I stepped forward. _

_There was no doubt in my mind where I would go. Every single member of my family, save Aunt Fleur, who'd gone to Beauxbatons so she didn't really count, had been in Gryffindor. Every single one. _

_"Another Weasley, I see." The hat whispered in my ear. _

_"You're not like the others, no. Destined for greatness like so many...yet...you have ambition, you are cunning. Your mother's brains, yes, a fine Ravenclaw you could be..."_

_"No!" I thought to myself, I couldn't be in Ravenclaw, it_ was_ a respectable house, but it wasn't my family's house, it wasn't the same..._

_"Ah, I see you are loyal to your family too...interesting."_

_I stiffened; loyalty was a Hufflepuff quality, and if I ended up there, James and Fred would tease me to no end...the 'duffers' house, it was..._

_"No, no, it is quite clear. After all, you _are_ a Weasley..." The hat said, and I felt myself relax. _

_What had I been worried about? Of course I'd been in Gryffindor, I was Rose Weasley-_

_"SLYTHERIN!" The hat screamed, and for the second time, there was silence. _

_This one, however, didn't end until I'd found the will to move. _

_Bravery, that was. A _Gryffindor_ quality. I'd needed a Gryffindor quality to go take my place as a Slytherin. _

_Ironic, or what?_

I shrugged out of my old Quidditch gear, my mind dwelling on that day, so many years ago, that had changed my life.

I certainly wasn't as close to my family as my cousins, every one in Gryffindor, was. I was the odd one out, green in a family of red. Only Uncle Harry seemed to understand me at all, he sympathised.

Al told me once that his dad had told him that the hat would take your choice into account. Apparently, it had wanted to put Uncle Harry into Slytherin, but he'd said no.

I _had_ said no, that's the thing. To Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. But it was too late for me to say anything once that hat had screamed it out to everyone.

I was a Slytherin, that was that.

"I think I do know you, Weasley."

My head flicked around at the sound of his voice, coming from the door. Malfoy'd snuck in at some point in my musings, and was now staring straight at me, his face serious for once.

"You do, do you?" I replied snidely, my features sliding into my cold, snarky attitude almost with no effort.

"Yes." He said bluntly, taking a step towards me.

"You love apples. You hate winter, because it's too cold, but also hate summer because it's too hot. You love to compete, but hate losing. You love your family, but at the same time can't stand them because you're the different one, the only one who doesn't belong. You regret your choices since school, that's why you return here, but part of you also hates it here, all the memories. You're a walking contradiction. You love flying, it helps you think and lets your mind relax. You're passionate, ambitious and driven, sometimes too much so. Most of all, though, you regret that day. The day you were sorted into Slytherin. I think if you could change anything, it would be that. And, in my opinion, that is pathetic. You need to get over it, and accept who you are. Merlin, Weasley, it's been how many years? GET OVER IT."

With that, he turned around and stormed out, leaving me utterly stunned.

Scorpius Malfoy had been my classmate for 7 years, my rival on the Quidditch pitch for 6, my fellow Prefect for 2 and Head Boy to my Head Girl for 1. However, in the past 2 years, we'd had nothing to do with eachother and I'd thought I'd changed, become someone different.

He was right, though. I was still stuck on the fact that I was a Slytherin. It _was_ pathetic, I was out of Hogwarts, why did it even matter?

I knew the answer to that, though. Not that I'd ever admit it out loud. There was one thing about me that no one knew, not even Scorpius Malfoy, 'Mr. I Know Everything About You'.

One thing that had the potential to be catastrophic.


	2. Chapter 2

"Morning." I said, dumping my bag on my desk, flicking my wand at the kettle over by the window.

Sydney looked up from her desk, her eyebrows raised.

"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, Rose?" She said in mock sympathy.

My currently foul mood did not find this at all humorous.

I glared at her, collected my coffee, and slammed the door between my office and the main room, where her desk was, fully prepared to sleep my way through the morning, responsibilities be damned.

Unfortunately, the world rarely let me have anything that I wanted.

"Rose!"

I whirled around, spilling coffee all over my _new_ white blouse, pointing my wand wildly in the direction of the noise, blowing a few loose strands of hair out of my face as I did so.

"Hugo?"

My brother's face grinned from the fireplace. I just scowled.

"Look what you made me do! This is a _new_ blouse, Hugo, you had better thank Merlin I'm good at cleaning spells-" I ranted, my face getting hotter as I did.

"Oh, shut it, Rose." Hugo said, rolling his eyes at me.

"What'd you want?" I asked, waving my wand over my top, folding my arms, and glaring at him.

"I'm at work, you know, I _do_ have things to do." I snapped, adding some foot tapping for good measure.

So what if all I was planning to do was sleep? He didn't need to know that.

Besides, sleep was necessary if I was to be on top of my game for my new assignment.

"I'm here on behalf of Mum, she wanted me to remind you that it's family dinner night, and that you're expected to be present, since you haven't come to one since June, and it's now _October._" Hugo said, before his head popped out of sight.

Well, nice to see you too, brother dearest.

I _hated_ family dinners. You see, once a month, the whole Weasley/Potter clan, plus Teddy, get together for a 'nice' sit down dinner at Grandma Weasley's.

Yeah, right.

The last time I'd gone, James had gone on for an entire hour about his new job doing Merlin-knows-what, Lucy asked me several times why I was in Slytherin, and Fred (who's _20, _for Merlin's sake) got mashed potatoes stuck in my hair.

Since I graduated Hogwarts, I've been to a total of five family dinners. Four of those were only because it was either my Mum's, or my Dad's birthday. The other one was Hugo's birthday.

I _refused_ to go on my birthday, I said I had to work. I don't think anyone minded, really, I'm the odd one out in the family. Without me there, everything would be a whole lot less awkward.

Usually, it's just one big, long, night full of awkward pauses.

"_So, Albus, how's the team treating you?" Uncle George asked, clapping my cousin on the shoulder. _

"_Pretty well. I reckon I'll be a full-time Chaser soon, this reserve business isn't my cup of tea." Albus replied, grinning widely. _

_I just sat in the corner, staring at the fire and trying to ignore all my happy, cheery family members. _

_They were all ignoring me, so it only seemed fair. _

"_Hey, Rose."_

_I turned my head, my eyes finding my cousin Molly, who sat down next to me. _

"_Molly." I said warily. _

_Molly had been in the same year as me, but we really hardly knew eachother. You see, _she_ was a Gryffindor. _

_Though I've no idea why, as she's about as bland and gutless as a flobberworm. _

_Wow. I sound like a heartless cow who hates her family. _

_Maybe I am. _

"_What're you thinking about?" Molly asked, clearly pulling her Healer training out. _

"_Oh..." I stalled. _

_I couldn't really say that I was contemplating whether or not I hated my family's guts, or that I was pretty sure I was a bitchy cow who was obsessed with work now, could I?_

"_Not much." I said lamely, going back to staring at the fire. _

"_You know, Rose, if you ever need someone to talk to..." Molly offered, but I stood up, cutting her off. _

"_Er, Molly, I'm fine, thanks. I just don't really like family occassions." I said, brushing my jeans down and making to leave. _

"_That's cause you're all work, Rosie." James said, ambling over to me with a sloppy grin. _

"_Yeah, well, I guess that's the Slytherin in me, _Jamesy._ Not something any of you would understand." I retorted, louder than I'd meant to. _

And just like that, I'd stormed out of my brother's birthday celebrations, leaving my gaping family in my wake.

I _really_ didn't understand them. All they did was stand around, gossiping about other family members all night, and eating, oh, and drinking, and that was supposed to be _fun_?

I'd been working my way up from the ground, starting my own business and working _round the clock_, whilst they stood around and discussed the ever-exciting topic of when Teddy and Victoire would finally get engaged.

"Rose?"

"Yeah?" I called back to Sydney, who had her head poking around my door.

"There's someone here to see you." She said, ushering said person into my office.

"Mr. Bobrikov." I said, inclining my head towards the tall, cloaked man.

He sat down in the chair across from me, my desk seperating us.

"Do you have zit?" He asked, with a heavy Russian accent.

"Yes." I said, pulling a plain, black, drawstring bag out of one of the drawers to my left.

"Here." I said, emptying the bag onto the desk.

I watched as he leant forwards, his eyes sparking with interest, as the plain ring, the black stone cracked down the middle, rolled out to rest between us.

"Good." He said, scooping the stone up and placing his own bag on the table.

"3000 Galloens." He said, the bag landing with a heavy thud.

I didn't bother weighing the bag, I knew Bobrikov was a man of his word. He swept out of my office, and I breathed a heavy sigh.

So much for a relaxing day at work.

"Who was that?" Sydney asked, her perfectly shaped blonde curls bouncing around her face as she entered my office.

I quickly put the bag of coins away, along with my, now empty, bag.

"A client. Private one, though, not through the business." I said, turning back to face my business partner.

"Obviously, otherwise I'd know him." She said, perching on the edge of my desk and whipping out a nail file.

"Was that Hugo I heard earlier?' She asked nonchantly, her attention on her nails.

"Oh, yeah." I said, suddenly remembering the disastrous prospect of a family gathering.

"He was reminding me about a family dinner tonight. I think I'll actually have to go to this one." I said, sighing and leaning back in my chair.

Sydney turned to look at me, momentarily forgetting her nails.

"Oh, come on Rose, they can't be all that bad." She said, trying to look sympathetic.

I raised my eyebrows at her, my mouth in a hard line.

"They are." I replied flatly.

"They didn't seem so bad in school, I'm sure they can't have changed that much-" She said, leaning on her elbows, her eyes wide and enthusiastic.

Sydney loves meddling in my life. It's her hobby.

"They haven't changed at all, Sydney, that's the problem." I cut her off, rolling my eyes at her attitude.

"Oh, that's right. I forgot that you practically ostracised yourself from them since you're a _Slytherin_, and therefore can't _possibly_ get along with _Gryffindors."_ She snapped.

"I didn't ostracise myself! They never talk to me, we have nothing in common-" I retorted, slamming my palms down on my desk in anger.

"That's because you haven't made an effort, Rose! If you stopped sulking about how you're 'so different' all the time, maybe one of them would talk to you, and, Merlin forbid, you'd find you had something in common!" She replied, standing up as she did in anger, her blue eyes flashing.

"I'm going to go organise the files." She said quietly, after a moment of glaring at eachother angrily.

She swept out of my office, shutting the door a little to firmly behind her.

I slumped in my seat, cradling my cup of coffee.

She was wrong. There was no way I'd ever get along with my family. They all though I was mad, obsessing over magical artefacts, selling them to people, etc. etc.

I reckon they all think I'm worse than Aunt Luna, truthfully. Which is _not_ something to be proud of.

And it's not like I hadn't given them plently of opportunity to talk to me. Albus all but shunned me once we were Sorted, but _he_ never apologized. I damn well wasn't going to.

Besides, they'd never truly understand me, because they didn't know me. I was ambitious, driven.

I was also, currently, on a hunt for the Hallows. Which they did not, and would never, know about.

Dad was KILL me if he knew I was hunting Dark Objects now.

Literally kill me, I mean. I'm not really sure, but I _think_ supplying people with dark objects is a crime...

Ah, well, too late now. I'd just have to head to family dinner, play the social outcast, then head out and figure out how to break into Albus Dumbledore's tomb.

Ew.

How again did I end up in this mess?

I was once a struggling business woman, selling harmless artefacts from another time to nice, old witches.

Then, a few things happened, a whole lot of money was blown my way by some powerful people (who may or may not be wanted criminals) and BAM, now I've been contracted by a bunch of, quite possibly, dark wizards, and am hunting the deathly hallows.

On the plus side, if Dad does ever find out, he won't have the chance to kill me because one of my clients probably already would have.

Yay.

**A/N: Okay...**

**Does this seem plausible? I'm really not sure : /**

**Of course, there is a whole backstory of how Rose got to be in the situation she's in, and, in case you were wondering, no her family doesn't really hate her, and she doesn't really hate her family either. **

**Reviews? :P**


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